Relocation

The old emperor did not make it through the winter of the 331st year after Huo Yuhao's ascension. One night, after giving the crown prince a few final instructions, he chose to take sleeping pills and pass away in a less painful manner. The Star Luo Empire entered the reign of its third emperor since Lingbing Douluo's ascension.

It was rather unusual that, in this era after Lingbing Douluo's ascension, the Star Luo Empire had now had three consecutive emperors with the strength of a Titled Douluo. But given the military pressure from the Sun Moon Empire, an emperor who wasn't a Titled Douluo wouldn't be able to hold on to the throne for long.

The new emperor went to the border on the night of his coronation and secretly met Zhang Cheng, the Star Luo Empire's own 99th-level Limit Douluo, who had no connection to Shrek Academy. He asked how much longer the empire could survive under Zhang Cheng's protection.

"Before my lifespan runs out, I can hold the empire together for another seventy-odd years. But if no one else reaches Limit Douluo in that time and takes my place, Your Majesty may have to turn to those graduates of Shrek Academy."

The new emperor fell silent. Shrek Academy had been established for over ten thousand years, ever since the Heaven Dou Empire had granted it territory. Now, across the entire Douluo Continent, it had become a force too powerful to dislodge: an independent power in all but name, though it called itself an academy.

It should have found itself in the awkward position of having no 99th-level Limit Douluo, unable to stop the Sun Moon Empire from swallowing the entire continent. But who could have guessed that Lingbing Douluo would lift them all to new heights? Considering that one of the previous emperors had been Dai Hao, the imperial family knew all too well how troubled its own affairs were. The new emperor could only stay silent.

Even under Lingbing Douluo's management, Shrek Academy and the Star Luo Empire could hardly be described as getting along.

They claimed to be maintaining the balance of the Douluo Continent, yet kept interfering in the internal affairs of nations.

When he was crown prince, the new emperor had once dreamed of studying at Shrek Academy. But while his father was still alive, he had put a stop to that, keeping him at Star Luo Royal Academy and making him observe what had become of his older brothers, whose Innate Soul Power levels were lower than his, after they entered Shrek Academy.

Then he fell silent. No wonder none of the Star Luo Empire's crown princes had ever been allowed to study at Shrek Academy—not even those who had graduated only from its outer court.

"It's a pity Prince Jinhu died during the Soul Hunting Operation. Of all the 98th-level experts, he had the best chance of becoming the empire's next 99th-level Limit Douluo. Now we don't have many candidates left at level 98."

Zhang Cheng regretted Dai Zuoheng's death, but he had fallen to the claws of a six-hundred-thousand-year-old Soul Beast. That was the consequence of his organization's repeated large-scale hunts for Soul Beasts—a debt paid for provoking them.

"Fortunately, thanks to the late emperor's arrangements, we're not without promising candidates. General Kallen, Count Libai, and a young girl named... Dai Ruoheng."

"I know the first two. Father gave me instructions when he was critically ill; I'll promote them later. But who is Dai Ruoheng? Is she descended from one of the princes?"

The new emperor knew the first two, naturally. He had visited the New Continent and met them himself, but Dai Ruoheng was a complete mystery to him.

"Neither. She's the girl your father asked me to take in after he—well, he was over two hundred and still couldn't keep it in his pants, and got a brothel's star courtesan pregnant. I have sons but no daughters, so he handed the child over to me to raise. I certainly hit the jackpot as her adoptive father. Innate Soul Power at level ten, and she's an Evil Eye White Tiger. Your Dai family's blood really is something. I've kept her close and trained her since she was little. Now she's twenty, at level 72, and somehow she's even formed a Soul Core. I think she has a shot at becoming a Limit Douluo."

Zhang Cheng looked at the new emperor and spoke with a smile. The old emperor and he had been a pair of rascals in their youth, sneaking off to brothels every day. They'd been caught and disciplined, but that had also forged a deep friendship between them. Looking back now, those were happy memories from beneath the crushing burdens of childhood.

"What? A younger sister who's more than a hundred and twenty years younger than me?"

The new emperor was stunned. Still, so be it. He had a sister now, and her talent was indeed extraordinary. As long as she hadn't graduated from Shrek Academy, that was all that mattered.

"When I get back, I'll make arrangements for my useless son to get to know her."

"That would be perfect."

With the new emperor's ascension, the Star Luo Empire entered a period of halting further expansion, consolidating its new territories, and the emperor himself strengthening his hold on power. Unlike before, the Star Luo Empire's lands were separated by the sea, so consolidating control would take longer.

"So those Star Luo People haven't made any more moves?"

Rus Wang looked over the information Yin Ji had sent and summed it up.

"The new emperor has ascended, and the Star Luo governors, nobles, and generals in Dragon Valley Continent are all on edge. That's right."

"Good. Then we'll move your main body over to Folded Ear Continent as soon as possible."

Rus Wang nodded and decided to launch the Soul Beast relocation plan, which he and the Light Dragon King had worked out together. Their priority was to secure Folded Ear Continent, where Soul Beasts and Elves lived together. As for Dragon Valley Forest, they would maintain the current situation and make no attempt to reclaim the Soul Beasts' other habitats, letting the two human powers remain locked in a stalemate there.

Dragon Valley's pocket world moved on its own, without any conscious direction. According to the Light Dragon King, it was currently heading toward Douluo Planet. The Divine Realm might have had a hand in it, but it was also possible that it was being drawn by the remnants of the Dragon God's power.

As for her, she would find a way to position the spatial rifts connecting the Dragon Valley World to the outside world near the designated habitats of the various Dragon groups on Folded Ear Continent. Dragon Valley Forest would be kept as well, though it would be far smaller than what they had on Folded Ear Continent.

That was right—the Light Dragon King, as one of the Nine Great Dragon Kings, could influence the spatial rifts that formed between the Dragon Valley World and the outside world. She wasn't as specialized in that field as the Space Dragon King, but she still had some ability to affect them.

That would make things much easier.

However, the key to this Soul Beast relocation plan, the Sun-Passing Ginkgo Yin Ji, would be difficult to move. She was a plant-type Soul Beast, after all, and her main body couldn't easily be moved.

The Light Dragon King had searched through the fragmentary texts in the Dragon Race's treasure trove of knowledge, which she had carved into her memory, and found several rune arrays for teleporting something whole. But each came with a clear warning about the risks, and Rus Wang would have to assess them himself.

After looking them over, Rus Wang decided the safest approach wasn't any kind of teleportation magic. They would use the low-tech method and move the Sun-Passing Ginkgo to Folded Ear Continent in one piece.

So Rus Wang and Barus began working on a large Soul Tool. With the floating rune array provided by the Light Dragon King, they would build a huge trailer, with Rus Wang acting as the truck cab, and haul the entire Sun-Passing Ginkgo tree to the Nanshan Rainforest on Folded Ear Continent.

"Add a dozen more level-nine Soul Guidance Shields. A container a hundred meters long and wide can hold a lot, so let's make it as safe as possible."

"Dad, that's going to delay the project a lot."

Barus stopped carving the Core Array and spoke.

"Better than something going wrong. Every Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast will be a precious fighter, protecting Folded Ear Continent from human invasion in the future."

Rus Wang knew that once the system's protective barrier disappeared, humans who had swallowed up three continents would inevitably covet Folded Ear Continent, the fourth habitable continent on Douluo Planet.

As for the Ice and Snow Continent? It wasn't quite suitable.